Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Variations on "Only Nixon Can Go to China"

by Mike Kimel Variations on “Only Nixon Can Go to China” This is not a short post. Be forewarned. A few years ago, I co-authored a book called Presimetrics with Michael E. Kanell, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. In the book, we tried to take an objective look at how Presidents performed on […]

Ray Bradbury, Master of Science Fiction, Dies at 91

Ah well…a whole generation of readers will mourn his passing. From an AP alert: Ray Bradbury, Master of Science Fiction, Dies at 91, A.P. Says Ray Bradbury, a master of science fiction whose lyrical evocations of the future reflected both the optimism and the anxieties of his own postwar America, died on Tuesday in Southern California. He […]

America is an Opportunity Society (Rep Paul Ryan WI)

by Run 75441 America is an Opportunity Society (Rep Paul Ryan WI) “I’m personally offended that they’re playing a high-stakes game of chicken with our national defense,” fumed Weston Newton, chairman of the Beaufort County Council, after hearing Senator Graham’s dire warnings. . Lawmakers look for way out as defense cuts near. After agreeing to […]

The Myth of the "Independent" Voter

John Sides at The Monkey Cage makes what seems to be an incredibly important point, at least for politico types. In the latest Pew report (PDF) that everyone’s nattering about, we see a big rise in “independent” voters over the last decade (to 38%). But: only 12% of respondents did not identify with or lean […]

REAL PER CAPITA STATE GDP

BEA just published the state real GDP data for 2011.  Since I have not done it in a while I thought it would be interesting to create the state real GDP per capita data for 2011.  There has not been much difference since the last time I did this exercise several years ago.  The last […]

I Heart Sane Conservatives!

In a recent post I spoke with astonishment and admiration of an article/post by Ron Unz in the May issue of The American Conservative (he’s the publisher) that laid out a realistic, fact-based, cogent, and coherent portrait of our current economic situation. (I also pointed out that he 1. couched the post in an odd […]

Improper Concepts to Measure

In the comments on my recent Home Work, GDP, and Family Values, which discusses a recent study (PDF) on the subject, Saturos points to this Arnold Kling post replying to a Timothy Taylor post summarizing that study. Saturos thinks Arnold’s post is “excellent.” I think otherwise. Arnold says “the value of household production” is an […]

New Report Highlights Flaws of North Carolina Mega-Incentives

by Kenneth Thomas New Report Highlights Flaws of North Carolina Mega-Incentives My new report for the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, Special Deals, Special Problems–An Analysis of North Carolina’s Legislature-Approved Economic Development Incentives, has just been published. It covers a range of issues I’ve emphasized here before as well as some basic considerations reporters […]